If you were like most kids, your mother told you there were three no-no's when it came to your fingers: Don't put them in an electrical outlet, don't stick them up your nose ( at least not in public ), and don't use them when you are counting.But experts in education and cognition now believe that using your fingers to do math is not only a perfectly good idea but may even help children become superior students.
It certainly makes sense. When children count on their fingers, they take an abstract concept— mathematics—and translate it into the most basic and visual form. Even when we aren't actually counting on them, they still can help us on math problem,
It activates when we respond to heat, pressure, pain, or the use of a given finger. Studying brain scans, researchers discovered that when students aged 8 to 13 work on subtraction (减法) equations, this region “lights up” on the scans, even if the students aren't using their fingers. The more complex the problem, the more activities are detected.
The connection between finger use and math ability has been shown on old-fashioned math tests as well. With their eyes closed, first graders were asked to identify which of their fingers a researcher was touching,When college students were given the same quiz, the highest scores once again performed best on calculation tests.
So what does all this mean? For one thing, parents and teachers shouldn't discourage children from counting on their fingers.Memorizing the multiplication tables may help, but it is not the best option. “I would like to see interesting and creative representations of ideas.” says Jo Boaler, a professor of math education.
Recently, a series of activities have been designed to strengthen students' perception of their fingers. Maybe in the near future, there will be only two no-no 1s regarding the use of fingers.
A. The first two laws of fingers are as true as ever.
B. There is a section of the brain, called the somatosensory finger area.
C. Researchers also stress that students simply learn better using visual tools.
D. Researchers are unimpressed by those students who finish quickly as well.
E. In fact, experts believe the brain is able to “see” a representation of our fingers.
F. That may sound simplistic, but the researchers offer an interesting explanation.
G. Researchers found those scoring highest on the finger-ID questions scored higher on a math test.
